2022 MLB Postseason

I'd be remiss if I did not end this season with the mention of Aaron Judge hitting his 62nd homerun in the 2nd to last regular season game, and thus breaking the longstanding American League record set by Roger Maris in 1961 (oddly 61 years later).  This has been the big story for much of the 2nd half of the season and has re-stirred the debate of who the "true" homerun king is.  Many (including Roger Maris Jr.) will now say that it is Aaron Judge since he did it "cleanly," but that is a slippery slope and the numbers don't lie - 62 is less than 73.  Regardless if you believe in math or create your own set of records, it's an accomplishment worth celebrating in a historic season, during a time when pitchers are becoming more and more dominant.  It was exciting to follow a homerun chase again and brought back a lot of memories of the 1998 season for me.

The Yankees are one of the postseason field of 12 this year, and Judge's homerun chase has largely overshadowed how the team limped into the playoffs and almost blew a 15-game division lead.  Outside of the AL Central, and the Mariners ending the longest playoff drought in all of professional sports, the rest of this year's postseason field was mostly chalk and I picked 8 of the 12 teams correctly.  Sadly this did not include the Brewers, who missed the postseason for the first time since 2017, and actually played their first regular season games in which they were eliminated from playoff contention since Craig Counsell's first full season 6 years ago.

PLAYOFFS START 10/7/22
NL Wild Card Round - #3 Cardinals host #6 Phillies, #4 Mets host #5 Padres
NLDS - #1 Dodgers v. 4/5 Winner, #2 Braves v. 3/6 Winner

AL Wild Card Round - #3 Guardians host #6 Rays, #4 Blue Jays host #5 Mariners
ALDS - #1 Astros v. 4/5 Winner, #2 Yankees v. 3/6 Winner

World Series Prediction: Astros defeat Braves in 7
Rooting for:  Mets v. Blue Jays

Preseason Predictions
#1 Dodgers
#2 Braves
#3 Brewers
#4 Phillies
#5 Mets
#6 Cardinals

#1 Blue Jays
#2 White Sox
#3 Astros
#4 Rays
#5 Tigers
#6 Angels

Dodgers defeat Blue Jays in 5

FINAL STANDINGS AND SERIES:

Brewers 86-, 2nd NL Central; eliminated

Twins 78-84, 3rd AL Central; eliminated

FINAL 2022 GAMES ATTENDED:

Erik - 5

Peter - 18